the bench was created as a way to break the mold from traditional marketing agencies. Our founders, noticed issues with broken processes, sub-optimal business structures, and a growing disconnect between their own values and the values supported by the agency system.
They found the need to create a true balance between quality of work and quality of life. The desire to support good work by supporting positive business, management, and leadership decisions could no longer be ignored.
There was an industry-wide failure of imagination and a reliance on an outdated, non-functioning approach to doing business.
Enough was enough.
On a seaside bench in 2018, our founders aligned on their vision and values:
● You only live once
● Time is the most valuable currency
● Trust should be the starting point, not the end point
● Autonomy is powerful for everyone
● Quality of life results in quality of work
● Empowerment goes both ways
No more burnout and lack of trust, it was time to align on values that encouraged freelancers and provided a better product for companies.
Founded on the premise of trust and transparency, the bench empowers top talent with the opportunity for autonomy and flexibility, and provides agencies with an alternative to the impossible task of maintaining a staff that’s qualified for a diverse breadth of projects, but without the financial visibility or security that makes that feasible.
As soon as their network got wind of this big idea, the phones started ringing. People were excited. People were ready. And as a pandemic swept the globe in 2020, an industry already poised to embrace this shift was suddenly launched forward into the need for change at full speed.
Over the last few years, as we’ve grown our offering and expanded our network, the momentum we’ve gathered has allowed us to evolve our mission.
By working directly with brands, we can provide an alternative to the brand-agency relationship, supplementing or entirely replacing the need to work with a fixed entity, like an agency, and empowering brand teams to work directly with talent across disciplines on a project-by-project basis.
Our belief is that one process will feed the other for a healthier ecosystem across the industry.
the bench is a global collective of free agents. The future generation agency.
We are committed to need-based growth, not growth for growth’s sake. Our business is built on state-of-the-art technology, transparency, flexibility and efficiency. At every touchpoint we optimize our process to keep overhead low and quality of work high. This savings is passed along to our clients.
We lead the marketing ecosystem with a proprietary tech platform that uses data analysis and psychographic markers to match marketing projects with vetted, highly talented, freelancers, and deliver quality marketing and data-driven insights for brands and holding companies.
We are defining the future of project-based work around the globe.
Above all, we are human. We value and empower our talent and our clients to create the best work with the right teams at the right times.
